Born in St. Louis on July 15, 1939, Shannon was a hometown athlete in the truest sense. He grew up immersed in sports, excelling at football, basketball, and baseball, and developed into one of the most accomplished high school athletes in Missouri history. At Christian Brothers College (CBC) High School, he earned the rare distinction of being named the state’s Player of the Year in both football and basketball in the same year.

His future initially appeared destined for the gridiron, and he enrolled at the University of Missouri on a football scholarship with aspirations of becoming a standout quarterback. Even his coach, Frank Broyles, believed Shannon possessed the talent to reach the highest levels of the sport.

Baseball, however, offered a different opportunity – one that ultimately kept him close to home. In 1958, Shannon signed with the Cardinals, beginning a professional journey that would define his life. His early years in the minor leagues were marked by both promise and adversity. He showed flashes of offensive potential and possessed a strong throwing arm, but he also endured injuries and the typical challenges of a young player learning the professional game. By 1962, he made his major league debut, though his initial time with the Cardinals was brief as he continued to move between the majors and minors.

Shannon’s breakthrough came during the 1964 season. After earning a regular role as the Cardinals’ right fielder, he became part of a team that mounted one of the most memorable late-season surges in franchise history. His contributions helped St. Louis capture the National League pennant, setting the stage for a matchup with the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series.

In Game 1, Shannon delivered the defining moment of his playing career, launching a towering, game-tying two-run home run off Whitey Ford that ignited both the team and the crowd. The Cardinals went on to win the game and ultimately the series, giving Shannon the unique distinction of helping his hometown team secure a championship in front of a home crowd.

Like many players, Shannon’s career included periods of struggle. The 1965 season proved difficult as he battled inconsistency at the plate, but he responded with a strong rebound in 1966. That year, he hit .288 with 16 home runs and 64 RBIs, highlighted by a dominant July in which he earned National League Player of the Month honors.

He also added another piece to his place in Cardinals history by hitting the final home run at Sportsman’s Park and the first for the Cardinals at the newly opened Busch Memorial Stadium. His performance established him as a reliable everyday player and a key contributor on a team that once again was trending upward.

Perhaps the most defining characteristic of Shannon’s playing career emerged before the 1967 season, when the Cardinals acquired Roger Maris. To accommodate Maris in right field, Shannon agreed to move to third base, a position he had not previously played on a regular basis. The transition was not seamless, as he faced the challenges typical of learning one of baseball’s most demanding defensive positions. Still, his strong arm and athleticism allowed him to adapt, and his willingness to make the change proved instrumental in strengthening the Cardinals’ lineup.

That selfless move helped propel the Cardinals to another National League pennant and a World Series appearance against the Boston Red Sox. Once again, Shannon contributed at a crucial moment, hitting a key home run in Game 3 as St. Louis went on to capture its second championship in four years. Though not the team’s statistical leader, his ability to deliver in crucial situations reinforced his value to a roster filled with star players.

Shannon reached the peak of his individual performance in 1968. In a season dominated by pitching, he emerged as one of the Cardinals’ most consistent offensive contributors, batting .266 with 15 home runs and a team-high 79 RBIs. His production earned him a seventh-place finish in National League Most Valuable Player voting, an impressive achievement given the presence of standout teammates such as Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Curt Flood.

The Cardinals returned to the World Series that year to face the Detroit Tigers, and Shannon again rose to the occasion, delivering his strongest postseason performance and hitting a home run in Game 7, though the Cardinals ultimately fell short of another title.

The following season brought a decline in both team and individual performance, as the Cardinals fell out of contention and Shannon’s offensive numbers dipped. Still, he remained a steady presence in the lineup and a respected veteran in the clubhouse. In 1970, however, his playing career came to an abrupt and unexpected end when he was diagnosed with nephritis, a serious kidney condition that limited his ability to continue competing at the major league level. Although he attempted to return, the illness forced him to step away from the game at just 30 years old.

Over nine seasons in the major leagues, all with the Cardinals, Shannon compiled a .255 batting average, 68 home runs, and 367 RBIs. Those numbers, while solid, do not fully capture his importance to the Cardinals’ success during one of the franchise’s most accomplished eras.

He played in three World Series, contributing to championships in 1964 and 1967, and hit a home run in each Fall Classic in which he appeared. He adapted to new roles, embraced positional changes, and consistently prioritized the needs of the team over personal accolades.

His playing career ended earlier than expected, but it laid the foundation for an even longer and more visible second act with the Cardinals organization. After a brief stint in the club’s promotional department, Shannon moved to the radio booth in 1972, beginning a broadcasting career that would span five decades. Paired for many years with Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck, Shannon became part of one of the most recognizable broadcast teams in baseball. Where Buck provided polish and precision, Shannon offered energy, humor, and a deep, instinctive understanding of the game from a player’s perspective.

His style was unmistakable: unfiltered, conversational, and filled with the colorful expressions that fans affectionately came to call “Shannonisms.” His signature home run call – “Get up, baby, get up!” – became part of the soundtrack of Cardinals baseball, echoing through radios across the Midwest for generations.

Shannon’s longevity in the booth was as impressive as his playing career. He spent nearly 50 years broadcasting Cardinals games, calling more contests than any announcer in franchise history and remaining a constant presence through multiple eras of Cardinals baseball. He was behind the microphone for championship seasons, dramatic pennant races, and the rise of new generations of stars, all while maintaining the same enthusiasm and connection to fans that defined his early days in the booth. His work earned him numerous honors, including a regional Emmy Award and recognition as Missouri Sportscaster of the Year, as well as induction into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014.

In many ways, Shannon’s broadcasting career amplified his impact as a player. If his on-field contributions helped deliver championships, his voice helped shape how Cardinals fans experienced other great moments in franchise history. He became not just a former player describing the game, but a bridge between generations of Cardinals baseball, connecting past and present with a style that was uniquely his own.

Shannon’s legacy as a player is best understood not through statistics alone, but through his role in helping shape championship teams. He was a dependable presence in the lineup, a strong defensive arm in the field, and a player capable of delivering in the game’s most significant moments. While he may not have achieved the individual recognition of some of his teammates, his contributions were essential to the Cardinals’ sustained success throughout the decade.

His career, both on the field and behind the microphone, reflects a rare and enduring connection to a single franchise, one that made him not just a Cardinal, but one of the defining figures in the organization’s history.

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Boyer won a National League Most Valuable Player Award, starred in a World Series, claimed five Gold Gloves, earned 11 All-Star selections, and served as the longtime captain of one of baseball’s proudest franchises. For many Cardinals fans, he ranks as one of the greatest third basemen in club history and one of the most compelling Hall of Fame candidates not yet enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Born Kenton Lloyd Boyer on May 20, 1931, in Liberty, Missouri, Boyer grew up in nearby Alba in one of baseball’s most gifted families. He was one of 14 children, and seven Boyer brothers played professional baseball. Two also reached the majors: older brother Cloyd Boyer and younger brother Clete Boyer. Ken set the family standard. Even as a teenager, he ranked among the region’s best athletes, excelling in football, basketball, and baseball. During local competition, he sometimes faced another future legend from nearby Oklahoma: Mickey Mantle.

The Cardinals signed Boyer in 1949, initially as a pitcher because of his strong right arm. That experiment did not last. While he showed promise on the mound, his bat and athleticism demanded everyday use. After hitting .342 in the minors in 1950, the organization moved him permanently to third base. It proved one of the wisest positional shifts in franchise history.

Military service during the Korean War delayed his rise and cost him two seasons in the U.S. Army. When he returned, he quickly resumed his climb, starring for Double-A Houston in 1954 with a .319 average, 21 home runs, and 116 RBIs. Convinced Boyer was their future, the Cardinals traded incumbent third baseman Ray Jablonski to clear the position for him.

Boyer debuted in 1955 and homered for his first major-league hit. By 1956, he had become one of the National League’s premier young stars. Cardinals manager Fred Hutchinson offered a glowing evaluation: “He’s the kind of player you dream about: terrific speed, brute strength, a great arm. There’s nothing he can’t do. I think he has the greatest future of any young player in the league.”

What made Boyer exceptional was the completeness of his game. He could hit for average, hit for power, run, throw, and defend at an elite level. In 1957, he volunteered to move to center field so rookie Eddie Kasko could play third base. Rather than merely survive the switch, Boyer led National League outfielders in fielding percentage. Once he returned to third base in 1958, he won the first of five Gold Gloves. From 1956 through 1960, he led the league in double plays turned by a third baseman each season.

Though graceful and efficient on the field, Boyer sometimes drew criticism from those who mistook his calm demeanor for a lack of hustle.

“I know that I try, that I give everything I have,” he said. “I don’t loaf. I know that all my life people have been saying that to me, that I don’t look as if I’m trying. I guess I don’t look as if I’m putting out. But I am.”

By 1959, Boyer had become the Cardinals’ team captain, a role reflecting the respect he commanded in the clubhouse. Stan Musial later said, “Kenny Boyer was a pillar of strength in the Cardinal organization. It was kind of an understood thing that Kenny took care of the players coming into the organization. He took people under his wing.”

The Cardinals spent much of Boyer’s early career rebuilding, but as he matured, so did the franchise. Alongside emerging stars such as Curt Flood, Bill White, Bob Gibson, and Tim McCarver, Boyer helped restore St. Louis to contention.

From 1956 through 1964, Boyer ranked among baseball’s elite players. During that span, only a handful of legends — Mays, Aaron, Mantle, Eddie Mathews, and Frank Robinson — produced more value among position players. Among them, Boyer ranked sixth. He hit .299 during those years while averaging 25 home runs per season and excelling defensively. He also became the only Cardinals player since 1900 to hit for the cycle twice, accomplishing the feat in 1961 and again on the same day Lou Brock debuted with the Cardinals in 1964.

His finest season came in 1964. The Cardinals chased the Philadelphia Phillies through much of the summer before mounting one of baseball’s great September comebacks. St. Louis won 20 games that month and overtook Philadelphia to capture its first pennant in 18 years. At the center of it all stood Boyer. He batted .295, hit 24 home runs, scored 100 runs, and led the National League with 119 RBIs. He won the league MVP Award.

Then came the 1964 World Series against the New York Yankees. On the opposite side stood his younger brother Clete, the Yankees’ third baseman.

With the Cardinals trailing two games to one in the series and down 3-0 in Game 4, Boyer stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Yankees pitcher Al Downing delivered a pitch that Boyer crushed for a grand slam, turning the game and the series. It remains one of the most famous home runs in Cardinals history.

Game 7 brought another signature performance. Boyer collected three hits—including a home run and double—and scored three runs in a 7-5 Cardinals victory. Clete also homered, making it the only World Series game in which brothers have both hit home runs. Reflecting later, Clete said of the Game 4 grand slam, “When he hit that homer, I loved it.”

Back problems began limiting Boyer in 1965, and after that season the Cardinals traded their captain to the New York Mets. He later played for the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring in 1969. He finished with 2,143 hits, 282 home runs, 1,141 RBIs, and a .287 batting average. At retirement, only a handful of Hall of Fame third basemen had hit more home runs.

Boyer later returned to the Cardinals as a coach, minor-league manager, scout, and eventually big-league manager from 1978 to 1980. Even after the club dismissed him as manager, he stayed with the organization in other roles rather than walk away. Few men were more deeply identified with the Cardinals.

In 1981, Boyer accepted an opportunity to manage Louisville, the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate, but a devastating diagnosis of lung cancer ended those plans. He died on September 7, 1982, at just 51 years old—one month before the Cardinals won another World Series. That championship club honored him with mourning bands on their uniforms.

The Cardinals retired his No. 14 in 1984 and later inducted him into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. Yet Cooperstown has never called.

Perhaps someday it will. Boyer’s résumé already speaks loudly: captain, MVP, champion, elite defender, and cornerstone of a championship club. Whether or not the Hall ever acts, Ken Boyer’s place among the Cardinals’ immortals has long been secure.

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White was born on January 28, 1934, in the Florida Panhandle and raised in Warren, Ohio, after his mother joined the Black migration north when he was three years old. He grew up in segregated public housing, excelled academically, and graduated as president and salutatorian of his high school class.

Baseball was not originally meant to be his life’s work—he enrolled at Hiram College with plans to study pre-med—but his left-handed swing altered that path. By the time he retired 13 seasons later, White had become an eight-time All-Star, a seven-time Gold Glove winner, and a World Series champion. The heart of that résumé was built in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.

White signed with the New York Giants in 1953 after an impressive tryout with manager (and former Cardinals shortstop) Leo Durocher. His climb through the minor leagues was productive but difficult. As the only black player on his Carolina League club in 1953, he endured racial abuse that he later described as the worst period of his life. He responded with 20 home runs and a .298 average, and continued rising through the system.

In 1956, he debuted in the major leagues and famously homered in his first at-bat. Military service interrupted his momentum, and when he returned, the Giants had moved to San Francisco and were stocked at first base with Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey. On March 25, 1959, White was traded to St. Louis.

He did not initially welcome the destination. The Cardinals already had left-handed first basemen, including Stan Musial, transitioning to the position late in his career, and St. Louis had a complicated racial climate. White later acknowledged, however, that the trade became one of the best developments of his life.

White’s first season in St. Louis demonstrated his immediate value. In 1959, splitting time between first base and the outfield, he hit .302 and earned his first All-Star selection. Over the next several seasons, he established himself as the Cardinals’ everyday first baseman and one of the National League’s most consistent hitters. From 1959 through 1965, he never hit below .283 in a Cardinals uniform and surpassed .300 four times. His best statistical year came in 1963, when he collected 200 hits, scored 106 runs, hit 27 home runs, and drove in 109 runs while batting .304. The season before, in 1962, he hit .324 with 20 home runs and 102 RBIs, posting a career-best .868 OPS and finishing 13th in MVP voting.

Those numbers were not isolated spikes but part of a remarkably steady run. During the 1962–64 seasons, White posted batting averages of .324, .304, and .303. He recorded 199, 200, and 191 hits across those three campaigns. His RBI totals during that span—102, 109, and 102—reflect a player who could be penciled into the middle of the lineup without hesitation. In an era when offense fluctuated widely from season to season, White’s production was metronomic.

Equally significant was his defense. White won seven consecutive Gold Gloves from 1960 through 1966, the first five coming while he was a Cardinal. He combined soft hands with quick footwork around the bag, stretching for errant throws and converting borderline plays into outs. First base in the early 1960s was often associated primarily with offense, but White elevated expectations for the position.

White also delivered singular highlights. He hit for the cycle on August 14, 1960. In July 1961, he hit three home runs in a game. Later that month, he tied a major league record by collecting 14 hits across consecutive doubleheaders against the Chicago Cubs at Sportsman’s Park. The accomplishment linked his name to Ty Cobb in the record books and underscored the offensive explosiveness he could summon, even amid his typically steady production.

The apex of White’s Cardinals career came in 1964. That season, St. Louis mounted a dramatic late surge to capture the National League pennant from the Philadelphia Phillies. White began the year slowly but surged in the second half, raising his average from .263 at the All-Star break to .303 by season’s end. In the final regular-season game, with the pennant at stake, he singled, scored the go-ahead run, and later hit a two-run homer as the Cardinals clinched the title. He finished third in National League MVP voting behind Boyer and Philadelphia’s Johnny Callison.

In the World Series against the New York Yankees, White’s individual batting line was modest, but his role throughout the season had already helped position the Cardinals for their first championship since 1946. St. Louis prevailed in seven games, with Bob Gibson delivering a dominant Game 7 performance. White contributed two hits and scored a run in that deciding contest. That championship secured his place in franchise history.

White’s Cardinals tenure also intersected with significant social change. During spring training in Florida, segregation still shaped daily life well into the early 1960s. Black Cardinals players were housed separately in St. Petersburg, and when a Chamber of Commerce event excluded them, White publicly challenged the injustice. His willingness to speak out helped force changes in accommodations and fostered visible solidarity within the team. Teammates moved into integrated lodging, families gathered together, and the Cardinals’ spring home became, briefly, a demonstration of integration in practice.

After the 1965 season, the Cardinals traded White to Philadelphia as part of a six-player deal. He went on to play three productive seasons with the Phillies, including a 22-home run, 103-RBI campaign in 1966 before an Achilles tendon injury diminished his effectiveness. He returned to St. Louis in 1969 to conclude his playing career primarily as a reserve.

Over 13 major league seasons, White compiled a .286 batting average with 202 home runs and 870 RBIs in 1,673 games. He was selected to eight All-Star teams and won seven Gold Gloves. Yet his six full prime seasons with the Cardinals remain the statistical and emotional center of his career. In St. Louis, he produced 111 home runs and more than 600 RBIs while batting .303. He helped bridge the closing chapter of Musial’s career and the rise of Gibson’s dominance. He was, for several seasons, one of the National League’s most complete first basemen.

White’s impact did not end with his final at-bat. He became the first regular black play-by-play broadcaster for a major league team when he joined the Yankees’ broadcast booth in 1971. Later, in 1989, he was elected president of the National League, becoming the first black executive to head a major professional sports league.

In 2020, White was elected to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. His legacy in St. Louis is defined by consistency, defensive excellence, and championship contribution. His career extended across playing fields, broadcast booths, and executive offices, but his years at first base for the Cardinals remain the foundation of his enduring place in the game’s history.

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The $35,000 monument was paid for through a fundraising drive led by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Approximately $30,000 was raised at a special retirement dinner hosted for The Man in October 1963, in which 1,400 guests paid from $20 to $50 each.[1] An additional $2,000 was donated by the BBWAA chapter, and the KMOX radio station gifted an additional $5,000.[2]

When they raised the money, St. Louis’s baseball writers initially envisioned a statue that featured Musial signing a scorecard for a young fan.

“Stan the Man liked the symbolism better than he did the thought of an individual honor – modest fellow, you know – but costs and freedom of artistic expression prevailed,” wrote St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg. “So it’s in his improbable stance, more or less, that famed No. 6 will look down upon the ages.[3]

“I like to think of the statue as a symbol of sportsmanship and great freedom of opportunity,” Musial said.[4]

The statue was unveiled to the public after an afternoon Cardinals-Cubs game in which Cubs right fielder Al Spangler hit a ninth-inning home run to end Bob Gibson’s 12-game win streak.

Prior to the game, the 1941 Cardinals – the team that welcomed Musial for his major-league debut and saw him hit his first career home run – were invited to a brunch in Cardinals chairman August A. Busch Jr.’s ballpark dining room. Each former player was presented a Cardinals wristwatch featuring his name on the dial.[5]

The players then went down to the field, where broadcaster Harry Caray introduced them to the Busch Stadium crowd as each player took the field at their former position. Musial was the only former player to don his old uniform, and when he was announced to take right field, he raced out to the position and pretended to chase down a fly ball.[6] The scene prompted Musial’s grandson, 4-year-old Jeffrey Musial, to ask his grandmother, “Is Stan Musial going to play today?”[7]

After the game, an estimated 20,000 of the 47,445 in attendance stayed for the statue unveiling.[8] Musial’s mother, Mary, and his wife, Lil, pulled the strings that dropped the statue’s cover and revealed the 10-foot, 5-inch statue and its 8 ½-foot marble pedestal.[9]

“Today I feel like I’m 18 feet tall,” Musial said,[10] looking over his shoulder at the statue, which he referred to as the “stash-ue”[11] (“Stash” is a Polish version of the name “Stanley” and was a common nickname for Musial).

Created by sculptor Carl Mose, a former teacher at Washington University who worked on the piece for three years, the statue featured Musial in his famous corkscrew batting stance. Its base featured “MUSIAL” in large letters. The only other inscription used former baseball commissioner Ford Frick’s famous quote envisioning what Musial’s inevitable Hall of Fame plaque should say: “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior; here stands baseball’s perfect knight.”[12]

Commissioner William D. Eckert spoke at the unveiling, as did Frick. Also in attendance were Johnny Mize, Walker Cooper, Enos Slaughter, Lon Warneke, Coaker Triplett, Ernie White, Ira Hutchinson, Howie Pollet, Harry Gumbert, Howie Krist, Gus Mancuso, Don Padgett, Marty Marion, Johnny Beazley, Frank Crespi, Eddie Lake, and Erv Dusak.[13]

“Stan indicated that he never forgets the fans. This statue will assure that we’ll never forget him,” said Jack Buck in his role as master of ceremonies.[14]

As part of the ceremony, St. Louis mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes presented a model of the Arch and a key to the city to Musial’s mother.[15]

“I want to thank everyone – for my mother and the Musial family – for making me a Cardinal forever,” Musial said as he fought back tears near the conclusion of his speech.[16]

“Fortunately, behind the bronze and the stone is a man of heart and great integrity,” Frick said. “If the time comes when people are so blasé that they don’t look for a Musial glove under a boy’s pillow or a Musial bat at the side of the bed, then something will be lost from life.”[17]

After the game, Musial hosted his former teammates and friends at a party at his restaurant.[18]

Almost 40 years later, when the Cardinals opened Busch Stadium III in 2006, the statue was moved to a new location outside the stadium. As the Post-Dispatch described the statue’s new location, “The sight of Stan Musial’s familiar stance provided a bit of comfort. We may not have embraced the aesthetics of Carl Mose’s bronze statue (heck, even the man himself wasn’t that crazy about it). But as a meeting place, or as a cultural reference point, it became our true north. Today’s dedication of the statue at its new site, at the Spruce Street entrance, reassures us that The Man will continue to show the way.”[19]

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[1] John J. Archibald, “Musial Statue Unveiling Draws Baseball Notables,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 4, 1968.

[2] John J. Archibald, “Musial Statue Unveiling Draws Baseball Notables,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 4, 1968.

[3] Bob Broeg, “Unforgettable First and Last Days for ‘Perfect Knight,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 4, 1968.

[4] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[5] Bob Broeg, “Win for Gibby Would Have Given Stan Perfect Day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 6, 1968.

[6] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[7] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[8] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[9] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[10] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[11] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[12] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[13] John J. Archibald, “Musial Statue Unveiling Draws Baseball Notables,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 4, 1968.

[14] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[15] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[16] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[17] Neal Russo, “Statue Dedicated, Stan ‘Redbird Forever,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 5, 1968.

[18] Bob Broeg, “Win for Gibby Would Have Given Stan Perfect Day,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 6, 1968.

[19] “Dedicated to The Man,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 10, 2006.

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As it turned out, Javier was the man who would hold down the St. Louis second base job for the next dozen years, making two All-Star Games and winning three National League pennants over that span. At the time of the trade, however, Javier was a little-known prospect batting .288 for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, Ohio.

Nonetheless, the Cardinals had taken note of the speedy infielder.

“He’s one of the fastest right-handed batters I’ve ever seen,” Cardinals scout Eddie Stanky said, adding that he considered Javier one of the top three infielders in all the minor leagues.[2]

Stanky went on to describe Javier: “Good range. Arm adequate. Line-drive hitter. Not a finished hitter, but quite a few present major leaguers still aren’t finished hitters. Could be a very exciting player.”[3]

“We have been following the progress of Javier for some time and all sources state that Javier is a player with great potential,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine said. “He is one of the fastest runners in baseball, comparing favorably with Vada Pinson of the Cincinnati Reds, and is an outstanding glove man as well as an improving fielder. We consider this a major addition to the Cardinal regular lineup now and for the future.”[4]

In response to Broeg’s question as to how the Cardinals were unable to acquire more for the veteran Mizell than a player who was about to make his major league debut, Clyde King, the manager of the Cardinals’ affiliate in Rochester, suggested that Pittsburgh likely wouldn’t have traded Javier for Mizell in a one-for-one deal.[5]

“When Bill Mazeroski was going bad last season, all the talk was about bringing up Javier, but they decided he’d be better off getting more experience in the minors,” said pitcher Ron Kline, who had come from Pittsburgh to St. Louis in a recent trade.[6]

Javier signed with the Pirates as a 19-year-old in 1956 but saw his first two seasons limited by injury. After batting .231 for Class A Lincoln in 1958, Javier hit .274 in 1959 for Triple-A Columbus. Javier credited Pirates hitting coach George Sisler and the glasses he had begun wearing that season for his improved hitting.[7]

“I was really surprised when I was told to head for St. Louis and join the Cardinals,” Javier said. “I don’t know how I’ll do, but I’m confident that I’ll make the grade.”[8]

“If he hits .250 his first year, I’ll be satisfied,” Hemus said.[9]

In his Post-Dispatch article regarding the trade, sportswriter Neal Russo noted that Javier had been “recommended by everybody except Duncan Hines and Good Housekeeping,” and added that “Redbird fans hope that the endorsements for the second baseman ring truer than the ‘Left-handed Dizzy Dean’ label hung on Wilmer Mizell when he came up from the minors.”[10]

Indeed, the Cardinals’ trading of Mizell indicated their resignation that the lefthander was never going to become the pitcher they had once anticipated. The pitcher who grew up in Vinegar Bend, Arkansas, had drawn considerable excitement as a prospect, winning 17 games as a 19-year-old at Class B Winston-Salem, then winning 16 games with a 1.97 ERA for the Double-A Houston Buffaloes the following year.

Mizell won a combined 23 games in his first two seasons with the Cardinals, though he also walked 217 batters in 414 1/3 innings, then missed the next two years due to military service. When he returned, he didn’t seem to have the same heat on his fastball, and the 25-year-old allowed 20 home runs in 1956. He finished the year with a 14-14 record and a 3.62 ERA.

In 1959, Mizell went 13-10 with a 4.20 ERA, and he was 1-3 with a 4.55 ERA at the time of the May 28 trade.

“At 30, Mizell still could become a big winner, but the Cardinals obviously don’t think so, and we’d have to agree, reluctantly,” Broeg wrote. “Since he came out of service in 1956, Vinegar hasn’t seemed as fast. Recently, he has been niftier, a bit more pitcher than thrower, and the foe doesn’t quite run as recklessly as before. But he’s a still-muscled man, no natural athlete, and besides, recurrent back miseries seem to stop him whenever he appears ready to put together five good months.”[11]

Nonetheless, the Pirates believed Mizell could provide an immediate boost to their starting rotation in their pursuit of the National League pennant.

“We are giving up one of the finest young prospects in the minor leagues in Javier, but we are trying to do this job in 1960 and let the future take care of itself,” Pirates general manager Joe Brown said. “In Mizell, we are getting an established major league pitcher with good equipment.”[12]

“Mizell should win in Pittsburgh because of their big park and their good defense,” Cardinals manager Solly Hemus said.[13]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams approved of the trade in a column published two days later.

“Any time a ball club gets a seasoned starting pitcher as the Pirates did in Wilmer ‘Vinegar Bend’ Mizell without having to give up anything for him in the way of needed players now, it has to be a good trade,” he wrote. “How Joe L. Brown did it, I don’t know.”[14]

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Broeg expressed cautious optimism about the deal.

“It took courage to give up a player of some reputation for one with none at the major league level, an absolute unknown,” he wrote. “To one who worshipped the speed the Cardinals used to have, Javier does sound exciting and fires the imagination.”[15]

The trade worked out for both teams. Mizell went 13-5 for the Pirates down the stretch, posting a 3.12 ERA over 155 2/3 innings. With Mizell pitching alongside Bob Friend, Vern Law, and Harvey Haddix, the Pirates went 95-59-1 to win the National League pennant, then beat the Yankees in a seven-game World Series. Unfortunately, Mizell struggled in the World Series, allowing four earned runs in just 1/3 of an inning in a 10-0 defeat in Game 3.

In 1961, Mizell went 7-10 with a 5.04 ERA. The following May, the Pirates traded him to the Mets for Jim Marshall, and the Mets released him that August. He retired with a 90-88 career record and a 3.85 ERA.

Javier went on to play 12 seasons for the Cardinals and became a key contributor to the team’s success in the 1960s. Known for his superb defensive play, Javier made his first All-Star team in 1963 and enjoyed arguably his best season during the Cardinals’ world championship season of 1967, when he hit .281 with 14 homers and 64 RBIs to finish ninth in the National League MVP voting. Javier was named an All-Star again in 1968.

In 15 World Series games with the Cardinals, Javier hit .346. He hit .360 in the 1967 Fall Classic and hit a three-run home run off Jim Lonborg in Game 7. In the 1968 World Series against the Tigers, he hit .333 and drove in three runs.

On March 24, 1972, the Cardinals traded Javier to the Reds for Tony Cloninger. The 35-year-old Javier, who had appeared in 1,578 games for the Cardinals, played one season with Cincinnati before retiring with a .257 career batting average over a 13-year big-league career.

In 2022, Javier was named to the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Give the gift of Cardinals history! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon.

[1] Bob Broeg, “Sports Comment,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[2] Neal Russo, “Mizell, Gray Traded To Pirates for Javier And Unnamed Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 1960.

[3] Neal Russo, “Javier Gives Up His No. 6, With a Smile,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[4] Harry Mitauer, “Cards Trade Mizell To Pittsburgh,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 28, 1960.

[5] Bob Broeg, “Sports Comment,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[6] Neal Russo, “Javier Gives Up His No. 6, With a Smile,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[7] Neal Russo, “Javier Gives Up His No. 6, With a Smile,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[8] “Javier Feels ‘Confident’ He’ll Stick,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 29, 1960.

[9] Neal Russo, “Javier Gives Up His No. 6, With a Smile,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[10] Neal Russo, “Mizell, Gray Traded To Pirates for Javier And Unnamed Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 1960.

[11] Bob Broeg, “Sports Comment,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

[12] Jack Hernon, “Pirates, ‘Shooting for 1960,’ Get Mizell,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 28, 1960.

[13] Neal Russo, “Mizell, Gray Traded To Pirates for Javier And Unnamed Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 1960.

[14] Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 30, 1960.

[15] Bob Broeg, “Sports Comment,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1960.

The post Julian Javier: Traded to the Cardinals in 1960 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The question may be tongue in cheek, but no one can argue with Musial’s record: in his lone season as the Cardinals’ general manager in 1967, the Cardinals won the World Series.

Musial was named to the position on January 23, 1967, just one day after general manager Bob Howsam announced that he was leaving to accept a similar position with the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals had granted Howsam permission to speak with the Reds, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that, “The fact that the Cardinals apparently made no effort to hold onto Howsam after he had informed them of the Reds’ offer indicated that the Redbirds hardly were overjoyed with his 2 ½-year reign here.”[1]

After replacing popular general manager Bing Devine midway through the 1964 season, Howsam had angered many Cardinals fans when he traded infielders Bill White, Dick Groat, and Ken Boyer. He only made matters worse when he justified the White trade by suggesting that White, the future president of the National League, was much older than he claimed.

Since his retirement from the playing field in 1963, Musial had served as a vice president in the Cardinals’ front office while also attending to a number of other interests, including ownership of a sporting goods store, co-ownership of a restaurant, and serving as director of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s national physical fitness program (he resigned his role with the physical fitness program shortly after accepting the general manager’s job[2]).

“It’s funny that I never did want to set my sights on a job as field manager, but I always thought I’d like to be in some front-office capacity,” Musial said. “Even when I was still playing, I often was consulted about players and trades.”[3]

According to the Post-Dispatch, Musial’s role in the front office had expanded even before he was named general manager, particularly regarding player personnel and trades, and the paper reported that “Musial even indicated that he could have had the general manager job much earlier” had he wanted it.[4] Musial also played a key role in identifying his former roommate, Red Schoendienst, as the Cardinals’ next manager after Johnny Keane left for the Yankees one day after winning the World Series.

At a press conference announcing the hire, owner August A. Busch Jr. said that it hadn’t taken long to identify Musial as Howsam’s successor.

“Not very long, as a matter of fact – about 15 minutes,” Busch said. “We called a meeting of the executive committee and we decided right away.”[5]

Musial’s pay was estimated to be about $35,000.[6] As had been the case with most of the Cardinals’ general managers, Musial was working without a contract.

“I might say that Mr. Busch’s word is better than a contract,” Musial said.[7]

In his statement announcing the hire, Busch pointed to Musial’s baseball knowledge as a longtime player and his three years of service in the front office.

“During the years in which Stan was one of baseball’s brightest stars, he acquired a great amount of baseball knowledge,” Busch said. “In the three years since his retirement as an active player, he has become familiar with front-office operations. He has served an apprenticeship in baseball as have few men in baseball.”[8]

Nonetheless, even Musial’s friend Bob Broeg, sports editor of the Post-Dispatch, wondered how Musial would adapt to the new role.

“Is Musial qualified to be a general manager?” Broeg wrote. “If he’s going to be judged on articulation and pronunciation, though he handled himself impressively at yesterday’s press conference, the answer might have to be ‘no.’ If, however, he’s going to be judged on what he knows about baseball, for his sincerity and for his ability to extend loyalty and elicit it, he’ll do more than all right. He’ll need an executive assistant to take care of details and mind the store. He’ll need, too, a super-scout to survey other major league clubs and go out on special free agent scouting assignments. But the one thing he won’t need will be the friendship and cooperation of the Cardinals’ entire organization. He’s already got that.”[9]

Reporters also questioned why Musial wanted the job in the first place.

“The question of the month in baseball is: Why did Stan Musial, headache-free and independent, take the general managership of the Cardinals?” asked Dick Young in The Sporting News. “He is not a 9-to-5 guy, and even his friends, which number 1,863,467 at last count, say he isn’t tough enough for the job.”[10]

The answer, Musial explained, was simple – most of his business interests were primarily run by others. The Donora, Pennsylvania, native also wasn’t concerned about being tough enough for the most challenging aspects of the job.

“I can be as tough as I have to be, but that’s overdone,” he explained. “You don’t have to be tough at trade talks. I’ve sat in on enough of them to know. The hardest part is cutting some player’s pay, and most players know when they’ve had a bad year, and deserve it. The main reason I took the job is that I found myself with nothing to do. I’d go into the restaurant, spend an hour or so there, and then have a lot of time on my hands for the rest of the day. All my other interests are pretty much running themselves. My son is running my sporting goods business, and everything else is going smoothly. I needed something to do.”[11]

With little time before the Cardinals began spring training, Musial suddenly found himself with plenty to do, including signing many of the team’s players, including Roger Maris, who had just come to St. Louis in a trade with the Yankees.

“We have a good nucleus of veterans and young players, especially pitchers,” Musial said. “Getting Roger Maris should help our attack. Our big question is third base and it would be great if Mike Shannon can do the job there. But Ed Spiezio has never had a real opportunity at third base and he did an adequate job the last few weeks of the 1966 season. He has a good bat and we certainly can use one. It’ll be nice, too, to have Orlando Cepeda’s bat from the start of the season.”[12]

As a former player himself – one who at times had to hold out of spring training camp as part of salary negotiations – Musial was more direct in his negotiations than Howsam had been in previous years. In his 2001 Musial biography, James Giglio wrote that “Musial’s greatest impact came in contract negotiations. Many of the Redbirds, including Maris, had yet to sign their 1967 contracts. Musial made it easier for them by forsaking Howsam’s gamesmanship of submitting an exaggeratedly low offer so that after considerable bickering they could reach common ground. Musial viewed the process from a player’s prospective in providing fair – if not generous – offers from the outset.”[13]

Musial also introduced a babysitting service at the stadium so players’ wives could attend games.[14] In terms of personnel moves, Musial didn’t make many. He famously ignored the waiver wire, believing that the Cardinals had little use for players that other teams didn’t want.

On April 1, he traded Jerry Buchek, Art Mahaffey, and Tony Martinez to the Mets for Eddie Bressoud, Danny Napoleon, and cash (Bressoud hit .134 in 67 at-bats and Napoleon never played for the Cardinals’ major-league club). In July, he made another deal with the Mets, acquiring Jack Lamabe for a player to be named later (Lamabe went 3-4 with a 2.83 ERA in 47 2/3 innings). In October, Musial sent Al Jackson to New York to complete the deal.

The biggest player acquisitions under Musial’s leadership came in the June draft, when the Cardinals drafted Ted Simmons in the first round and Jerry Reuss in the second.

The 1967 campaign marked the Cardinals’ first full season at the new Busch Stadium, and the ballpark quickly established itself as a haven for pitchers, drawing the ire of Cardinals hitters. At an old-timer’s game, Musial put an end to the criticism when he homered off Bob Feller.

“Tim McCarver and all the young guys, they’re all complaining about it’s hard to hit home runs here,” Musial recalled. “First time up, I hit one over the right-field (wall). I came running around and got to the dugout. ‘You guys are complaining about how hard it is to hit a home run. I’m (nearly) 47 years old.’ I got a kick out of that home run. Bob Feller just threw it in there, but still …”[15]

Musial wasn’t the only Cardinal who had fun that year, as St. Louis won 101 games to clinch the National League pennant. Pitchers Dick Hughes (16-6), Steve Carlton (14-9), Nelson Briles (14-5), Bob Gibson (13-7), and Ray Washburn (10-7) each reached double digits in wins, and Cepeda was a unanimous National League MVP selection with a .325 batting average, 25 homers, and 111 RBIs.

In a classic seven-game World Series, the Cardinals defeated the Red Sox in seven games, with Gibson winning the decisive contest.

Musial resigned his position as general manager that December, citing the need to spend more time at his restaurant following the death of his business partner, Julius “Biggie” Garagnani. Just over a year after his term as general manager ended, Musial was elected to the Hall of Fame.

[1] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[2] James Deakin, “Musial Resigns U.S. Post,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1967.

[3] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[4] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[5] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[6] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[7] Neal Russo, “Stewart Expected to Be Named As Musial’s Chief Assistant,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 24, 1967.

[8] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[9] Bob Broeg, “Musial and Schoendienst Are an Odds-On Entry,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 24, 1967.

[10] Dick Young, “Young Ideas,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1967.

[11] Dick Young, “Young Ideas,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1967.

[12] Neal Russo, “Musial Replaces Howsam as GM,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23, 1967.

[13] James Giglio (2001), Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man, University of Missouri Press, Page 285.

[14] James Giglio (2001), Musial: From Stash to Stan the Man, University of Missouri Press, Page 285.

[15] Jack Etkin, “Grand Stan,” Rocky Mountain News, June 30, 2003.

The post How Stan Musial became Cardinals general manager first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

When Keane and the Cardinals surprised everyone by surging to their first World Series championship in 18 years, Busch decided to keep his manager on for another year. However, Keane shocked everyone once again when he announced his resignation at a press conference that was originally intended to celebrate his new contract.

Keane’s 35-year career with the Cardinals included time as a minor league infielder, player-manager, and coach before he joined the big-league coaching staff under manager Solly Hemus. When Hemus was fired in 1961, Keane was named manager. A baseball lifer who studied for the priesthood before joining the Cardinals, Keane was beloved by his players.

“Johnny Keane spent 21 years managing in the minor leagues, which suggests, quite accurately, that he was a patient man,” Bob Gibson wrote in his autobiography. “He was, in fact, the closest thing to a saint that I came across in baseball.”[1]

“Johnny Keane was one of the nicest persons ever in sports,” added Jack Buck in his own autobiography.[2]

Keane led the Cardinals to a 47-33 record after taking over for Hemus in 1961, then followed that performance with an 84-win season in 1962. In 1963, the Cardinals won 93 games and placed second in the National League, giving the club high hopes for the 1964 campaign.

The Cardinals got off to a slow start, however, and on June 17, with a 30-31 record, they sat in eighth place in the 10-team National League. Busch responded by firing Devine; however, he was more than willing to fire the manager Keane as well.

As the Cardinals staggered out of the gate, former Gashouse Gang shortstop Leo Durocher, who had won National League pennants with both the Dodgers and Giants, made a bid for Keane’s job. Now a coach for the Dodgers, Durocher was in St. Louis with the Dodgers in mid-August when Cardinals broadcaster Harry Caray invited him to the broadcast booth for an interview on the pregame show.[3]

When the conversation turned to Durocher’s future as a manager, he told Caray, “If somebody came to me and asked me to manage a team with some talent on it—a team like the Cardinals here—well, I’d jump at it in a minute. Because a club like the Cardinals should be winning.”[4]

That day’s audience happened to include Busch, and the owner instructed Caray to bring Durocher to the beer mogul’s estate the following morning.[5] Durocher described the scene in his book, Nice Guys Finish Last:

When we arrived at Mr. Busch’s estate at Grant’s Farm, Harry said that he’d wait in the car. A servant opened the door and took me the distance of a couple of city blocks to the living room. Then we went through a couple of more rooms and out to a screened-in porch where Gussie was having his breakfast.

It was a very hot Sunday morning, and his kids were riding back and forth outside on their ponies. I had a cup of coffee and a sweet roll with him. The small talk was kept to a minimum.

Gussie wanted to know whether I would be interested in managing his ball club next year if the job should become available. The job, as everybody knew, was going to become available. Busch had fired his general manager, Bing Devine, a couple of weeks earlier and it was common talk that Johnny Keane had been kept on only because it hadn’t been considered good policy to let both the manager and general manager go in the middle of the season.[6]

When Busch finished his breakfast, he and Durocher retired to the beer baron’s office, where Busch announced that the job would be his. First, however, Busch wanted to clear it with Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley. Unfortunately, O’Malley was on safari in Africa and was unavailable.[7] Durocher claims that he warned Busch things could change while he waited for O’Malley’s response.

“The last thing I said before getting up was that it was going to be very hard to keep our agreement out of the newspapers,” Durocher recalled. “‘How do you think Johnny Keane is going to feel when he hears about this? Because you’re not out of it yet, Gus. You’re only seven and a half games out, you could win this thing yet. Anything can happen in this game.’”[8]

Indeed it could.

As rumors swirled about his future with the club, Keane and the Cardinals pulled themselves back into the pennant race. By September 22, the Cardinals were in third place and had trimmed Philadelphia’s lead to five games.

At the same time, rumors regarding Busch’s meeting with Durocher began to swirl. United Press International (UPI) reported that Keane would be replaced within two weeks. In response, Busch denied that the meeting with Durocher had taken place and told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I have great admiration for Durocher and I heard that recent radio interview in which he made a pitch for a managerial job, but I don’t know whether we’ll make a change or not. It was hard enough to let Bing go – I consider Bing one of the finest fellows I’ve ever met – and it was a tough move to make. It would be another tough move to decide to let Keane go.”[9]

When asked whether he thought Keane had done a good job to that point in the season, Busch was noncommittal, saying, “Frankly, I have no comment on that.”[10]

After learning of the meeting between Busch and Durocher, Keane called his friend Bill Bergesch, who had been the general manager at Omaha when Keane was the manager. Bergesch was now the assistant general manager with the Yankees.[11] According to Peter Golenbock, author of The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, Keane signed a contract for the 1965 season with the Yankees on September 28.[12]

That same day, Keane wrote a letter of resignation that he planned to give Busch whenever the Cardinals’ season ended. Only he and his wife knew that he planned to quit.

“I didn’t want to upset the players,” Keane said.[13]

Ironically, after Keane made the decision to leave the only MLB team he had ever worked for, Busch changed his mind about his 52-year-old manager. On October 2, five days after Keane penned his resignation letter, Busch visited him in the clubhouse and offered him a new contract. Keane demurred, saying that he preferred to wait to discuss his contract until after the season.[14]

With an 11-5 win over the Mets on the final day of the regular season, the Cardinals clinched the pennant, finishing one game ahead of the Reds and Phillies. Their late-season surge meant they would meet another team that came on strong: the Yankees, who had been in third place as late as September 16 before an 11-game win streak pushed them into first place.

In a classic World Series, the Cardinals captured the title in seven games. After taking the loss in Game 2, Gibson won Game 5, then struck out nine Yankees in a complete-game effort in Game 7.

With the championship in hand, Busch called a press conference for the following morning at which he planned to announce a new contract for Keane. Instead, Busch was in for a surprise. When Keane arrived 15 minutes after the press conference was scheduled to begin, he entered Busch’s office and handed him the letter of resignation he had written weeks earlier.

In part, the letter read: “This is to submit my resignation as field manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, effective at the end of the last championship National League game, whether it be at the end of the regular season or at the completion of the World Series. I want you to know that I have enjoyed working for you since you have owned the Cardinals, as well as the many years I spent with the organization prior to that time. I resign my position with the friendliest feelings and wish nothing but success to you and your fine Cardinal team.”[15]

Unaware of the letter’s contents, Busch shoved the letter into his pocket and encouraged Keane to hurry toward waiting press.

“I think you’d better read that before we go in there,” Keane said.

When Busch said he would read it after the press conference, Keane insisted. That was when executive vice president Dick Meyer asked to see the letter. After reading its contents, Meyer stopped Busch.

“We can’t go in there,” he said.

“Why not?” Busch asked.

“He’s not going to manage,” Meyer answered. “He’s resigning.”

Busch was shocked. “I’m sorry, Mr. Busch,” Keane said. “I’ve made other plans.”[16]

When Busch and Keane finally spoke to the press, they announced Keane’s resignation. It marked just the third time in history a manager had not returned after winning the World Series and the first time since Cardinals player-manager Rogers Hornsby was traded to the Giants after the 1926 season.

“It’s hard to leave the players,” Keane said. “During the last 30 days, during the stretch run, we have become a closely knit unit. I have become closer to the players than with any other ball club I’ve been with before. I’ve been one of the boys and liked it.”[17]

When asked by reporters why he quit, Keane said it “was an accumulation of a lot of little things,” including Devine’s firing earlier that season.[18]

“Keane was understood to have resented the interference of Branch Rickey, senior consultant, and the mid-August dismissal of general manager Bing Devine,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Neal Russo wrote. “Keane also was believed to have been upset during the period that the Cardinals reportedly were thinking of Leo Durocher as his successor.”[19]

For his part, Busch admitted his was astonished by Keane’s announcement. “I tried to find the main reason why John is resigning,” he said. “I don’t know what caused him to make this decision. This came as a complete bombshell this morning.”[20]

Keane was asked whether he might go to the Mets, where he could serve as a manager-in-waiting under 74-year-old Casey Stengel and be reunited with Devine, who had joined the Mets’ front office.

“It’s not true that I am going with the Mets,” he said. “That job would be a year from now or more, and I want a job now. I don’t want a coaching job. I want to manage.”[21]

Later that day, Keane’s plans became clearer as the Yankees announced that Yogi Berra would fulfill a different role in the organization and would not be the manager in 1965. Yankees general manager Ralph Houk said Keane was among four finalists for the position.[22] A few days later, the Yankees announced that Keane would manage the club the following season.

Keane’s tenure in New York didn’t last long. Saddled with an aging roster that was on the decline, Keane guided the team to just 77 wins in 1965. After the Yankees won just four of their first 20 games in 1966, he was fired. In January 1967, he was in his Houston home when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Following the public perception that he and Durocher had chased the World Series-winning Keane from St. Louis, Busch decided not to name Durocher the Cardinals’ next manager. Instead, he sought recommendations from a committee that included the recently retired legend, Stan Musial. Musial campaigned for his longtime friend and teammate Red Schoendienst.

“With Musial leading my support, it came down to as much a public relations decision as a baseball one, I think, and that’s where I had the advantage,” Schoendienst wrote in his autobiography. “There was a lot of negative reaction to Johnny leaving, and the possible hiring of Durocher had stirred up a lot of people. The prevailing thought was the new manager needed to be someone who was a favorite of the fans, and luckily that turned out to be me.”[23]

Schoendienst went on to manage the Cardinals for 12 years, guiding the club to the World Series title in 1967 and another National League pennant in 1968.

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[1] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, Penguin Books USA, Page 43.

[2] Jack Buck (2014), Jack Buck: That’s a Winner! Kindle Android version, Location 2066.

[3] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 460.

[4] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 460.

[5] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 460.

[6] Leo Durocher with Ed Linn (1975), Nice Guys Finish Last, University of Chicago Press, Page 344.

[7] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 461.

[8] Leo Durocher with Ed Linn (1975), Nice Guys Finish Last, University of Chicago Press, Page 345.

[9] Ed Wilks, “Busch Unsure on Keane,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1964.

[10] Ed Wilks, “Busch Unsure on Keane,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1964.

[11] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 461.

[12] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 468.

[13] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[14] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[15] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[16] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 468.

[17] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[18] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[19] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[20] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[21] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[22] Neal Russo, “Keane Quits As Manager Of Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1964.

[23] Red Schoendienst with Rob Rains (1998), Red: A Baseball Life, Sports Publishing, Champaign, Ill., Page 134.

The post Why Cardinals manager Johnny Keane quit one day after winning the World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

A St. Louis native who played his high school football and baseball at Christian Brothers College (CBC) High School and his college ball at the University of Missouri, the 23-year-old Shannon was primarily a defensive replacement at that point in his career. On September 11, 1963, he entered the game in the eighth inning as a replacement for the greatest Cardinal of them all, Stan Musial.

The Cardinals were seeking their fifth consecutive win and 14^th in 15 games, including two shutout victories over the Cubs to open their four-game series at Busch Stadium. Following complete-game shutouts from Curt Simmons and Bob Gibson, the Cardinals turned to 22-year Ray Sadecki, who was 8-8 on the year with a 4.63 ERA. The Cubs countered with 23-year-old Dick Ellsworth, who had claimed his 20^th win of the season earlier that month.

The two southpaws traded scoreless innings until the fourth. Dick Groat, Bill White, and Curt Flood opened the inning with consecutive singles for the Cardinals. Musial hit a sacrifice fly into center field to score Groat and Curt Flood followed with a ground ball to second base that scored White.

In the sixth, Sadecki ran into trouble for the first time. With one out, he walked Billy Williams on a 3-and-2 pitch. After striking out Ron Santo, Sadecki got ahead of Ellis Burton 0-and-2 but allowed a single that put Williams in scoring position.

It proved to be his final pitch of the game.

“I was a little bit wild, but strong,” Sadecki said. “If I get either man, I’m still in the game.”[1]

To replace Sadecki, Cardinals manager Johnny Keane called upon righthander Ron Taylor, who got Ken Hubbs to fly out to right field to strand both baserunners.

In the seventh, Keane made another move, putting Shannon into left field for Musial, whose son Dick had played alongside Shannon on CBC’s football team. An inning later, Shannon’s place in the order came up with Bill White on first base. Ellsworth hung a curveball and, in just his 13^th at-bat of the season, Shannon pulled the ball over the left-field wall.

“It helps to have a young man like Shannon come off the bench and get a big hit – it takes the strain off the pitcher,” Groat said.[2]

In St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Neal Russo’s recap of the game, he wrote that Shannon’s nickname, “Moon Man,” was the product of such blasts. “He puts the ball into orbit,” Russo attributed to Shannon’s teammates.[3]

In his biography, Shannon wrote that the nickname came from an interaction with Gibson.

“I was trying to distract him and I looked up at the sky and said, ‘There’s going to be a guy that’s going to walk on that moon one of these days.’ So he started calling me ‘Moon Man,’” Shannon recalled.[4]

Shannon’s homer provided the game’s final runs as Taylor maintained the shutout, thanks in part to Flood’s eighth-inning grab of a line drive off the bat of Williams.

“That was the big play of the game,” Keane said. “I didn’t think Flood could get the ball. He had to have a heck of a jump to do it.”[5]

Sadecki was credited with his ninth win of the season after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings, while Taylor earned his 10^th save.

The Cardinals went on to sweep the Cubs as part of a 10-game win streak that pulled St. Louis within a game of the league-leading Dodgers. However, the Cardinals were unable to continue their momentum and dropped eight of their final 10 games to finish second in the National League race.

Shannon continued to see limited action the rest of the way, finishing the year with just 28 plate appearances. He appeared in 88 regular-season games in 1964, hitting nine home runs, then hit a game-tying home run off Whitey Ford in Game 1 of the World Series.

In 1967, with the addition of Roger Maris from the Yankees, Shannon converted from the outfield to third base and helped the Cardinals capture another World Series championship. The following year, he placed seventh in the National League MVP voting and once again helped the Cardinals reach the Fall Classic.

In 1970, kidney disease limited Shannon to just 55 games and ultimately ended his playing career. He finished with a .255 batting average, 68 homers, and 367 RBIs in 882 games played.

After a year in the Cardinals’ promotions and sales office, Shannon moved to the Cardinals’ radio booth, where he spent 50 years calling Cardinals games.

Enjoy this post? Find similar stories listed by decade or by player.

[1] Neal Russo, “Shannon’s Bat Backs Shutout,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 1963.

[2] Neal Russo, “Shannon’s Bat Backs Shutout,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 1963.

[3] Neal Russo, “Shannon’s Bat Backs Shutout,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 1963.

[4] Mike Shannon with Rick Hummel (2022), Get Up, Baby! My Seven Decades With the St. Louis Cardinals, Triumph Books, Kindle Android Edition, Location 583.

[5] Neal Russo, “Shannon’s Bat Backs Shutout,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 12, 1963.

The post Mike Shannon hits his first career home run (9/11/1963) first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

A backup catcher throughout his two seasons in St. Louis, Uecker was a member of the Cardinals’ 1964 World Series championship club. Though Uecker didn’t appear in the postseason, starting catcher Tim McCarver credited Uecker’s clubhouse presence for making an impact.

“If Bob Uecker had not been on the Cardinals, then it’s questionable whether we could have beaten the Yankees,” McCarver said.

Uecker enlisted in the U.S. Army as a 20-year-old in 1954, where he played baseball at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Belvoir in Virginia. When his service concluded, the native of West Allis, Milwaukee, signed with his hometown Braves and made his major-league debut in 1962. That season, he caught Warren Spahn’s 327^th career win, which set the record for most wins by a left-handed pitcher.

In 1963, Uecker split time between the majors and minors, appearing in just 13 games for the Braves. In 53 games with Triple-A Denver, Uecker hit .283 with eight homers and 33 RBIs.

Heading into the 1964 campaign, the Braves still had plenty of catching depth, making Uecker expendable.

“Uecker, a boy most observers feel could be catching for almost any major league team, was known to be on the trading block,” United Press International wrote after Uecker’s trade to the Cardinals was announced. “With the acquisition of Ed Bailey and the presence of Joe Torre, Phil Roof, and Gene Oliver on the roster, the Braves were far overstocked in that department.”[1]

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were thin on catching depth behind McCarver. The 28-year-old Coker had been acquired from the Giants for pitcher Ken Mackenzie, but the Cardinals were unimpressed by his spring training performance.[2]

“We know that Uecker is an excellent defensive catcher,” Keane said. “We expect Tim McCarver to do most of the catching, but Uecker will be an excellent replacement defensively, and we can’t expect a man to hit for much of an average when he plays infrequently. We believe that if Uecker hits often enough, he’ll hit satisfactorily.”[3]

The Braves considered Kolb the biggest prize in the deal. A former halfback with the University of Illinois, Kolb could catch and play third base or the outfield. He had been one of a handful of prospects seen as a possible successor to Stan Musial in the Cardinals’ outfield.

In his first extended look in the majors, Kolb hit .271 with three homers and 10 RBIs across 119 plate appearances in 1963.

Braves general manager John McHale said he was “very happy” to get Kolb[4] and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Kolb “impressed the Braves by getting several key hits against them” in 1963.[5]

The Braves assigned both Kolb and Coker to Triple-A Denver to open the 1964 season. Kolb appeared in 36 games that season, batting just .188. He was hitting .259 in 24 games when he was traded to the Mets for Jesse Gonder on July 21, 1965. Across his seven-year major league career, Kolb played in 293 games, batting .209 with six homers and 29 RBIs.

Coker never got the opportunity to play for the Braves, as he was sold to the Reds for $35,000 on August 23, 1964. He played four seasons in Cincinnati and concluded a nine-year major league career with a .231 average, 16 homers, and 70 RBIs across 233 games.

Uecker’s fun-loving personality fit in well with the Cardinals. At the 1964 team photo, Uecker was seated next to Bob Gibson. Sensing an opportunity for mischief, Uecker whispered to Gibson that they should hold hands, and the star pitcher happily agreed. No one noticed during the shoot, and the Cardinals chose to re-take the photo (with Gibson and Uecker separated) after the grinning, handholding teammates were discovered.

On the field, Uecker played in 40 games for the Cardinals in 1964, batting .198 with one homer and six RBIs.

“I liked throwing to him,” pitcher Nelson Briles said. “He was very self-effacing about it, but he was a good defensive catcher. Of course, you knew he wasn’t going to start because Tim McCarver had established himself, so Bob was going to be a part-time platoon player.”[6]

That August, Devine was fired, and soon thereafter the sixth-place Cardinals began to surge. After a walk-off win on September 1, the Cardinals moved into third place. Four weeks later, they moved into a tie with the Reds for first place. With a win in their final game, the Cardinals won the pennant.

In the final days of the season, the team gathered to decide how they would divide their shares. Pitcher Roger Craig encouraged his teammates to recognize Devine’s contribution in putting the roster together.

“If we do go on to win this thing, I think voting Bing money would be an insult,” Craig said, “but if we do win, I do think we should at least give him a ring.”

“I’ll call him,” declared Uecker as his teammates exploded in laughter.[7]

That fall, Uecker’s antics included borrowing a tuba from the band performing prior to Game 1 of the World Series and attempting to catch fly balls in it before the game. Mike Shannon wrote in his 2022 autobiography, Get Up, Baby!, that Keane’s anger over the tuba stunt was why Uecker didn’t play in that year’s seven-game World Series.[8] Given how rarely Uecker played in the regular season, however, it wasn’t particularly surprising that the backup catcher didn’t appear with the championship on the line.

With Red Schoendienst managing the club in place of Keane, who had left the team to manage the Yankees, Uecker appeared in 53 games in 1965, batting .228 with a pair of homers and 10 RBIs. Ultimately, however, Uecker’s sense of humor – and his talent for impressions, including one of new Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam – spurred his inclusion in a trade to the Phillies following the season.

As Gibson wrote in 1994, “Among his many imitations, Uecker did a hilarious rendition of Howsam, who was very bland and nasal, and in turn Howsam’s dislike for Uecker was so intense that he wouldn’t make the deal with the Phillies unless they agreed to take Uecker.”[9]

In The Spirit of St. Louis, author Peter Golenbock wrote that, “For Howsam, it was addition by subtraction.”[10]

Uecker played 1 ½ seasons with the Phillies before he was traded to the Braves – now based in Atlanta – for the final months of his career. Uecker was involved in a nightclub fight at spring training in 1968 and required 48 stitches after he was hit in the head with a beer bottle. After he suffered a separate spring training injury, the Braves released him on April 2.

Over six seasons, Uecker appeared in 297 games, batting .200 with 14 homers and 74 RBIs.

Uecker became nationally famous beginning in 1970, when he made the first of more than 100 appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Beginning in 1971, Uecker served as a Brewers broadcaster and also handled play-by-play for ABC’s Monday Night Baseball from 1976 through 1982. Later, he starred in Mr. Belvedere and was in all three Major League movies. In 2003, Uecker was awarded the Ford C. Frick Award, which was presented at that year’s Hall of Fame weekend. Uecker passed away in January 2025.

Get the perfect gift for the Cardinals fans in your life! The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals is available now on Amazon!

[1] UPI, “Trade Made With Cards,” Portage Daily Register, April 9, 1964.

[2] Neal Russo, “Cards Get Uecker, Deal Kolb, Coker to Braves,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1964.

[3] J. Roy Stockton, “Cards’ Outfield Only Uncertainty,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1964.

[4] UPI, “Trade Made With Cards,” Portage Daily Register, April 9, 1964.

[5] Neal Russo, “Cards Get Uecker, Deal Kolb, Coker to Braves,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1964.

[6] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 472.

[7] Tim McCarver with Ray Robinson (1987), Oh Baby I Love It! Baseball Summers, Hot Pennant Races, Grand Salamis, Jellylegs, El Swervos, Dingers and Dunkers, Etc., Etc., Etc., Villard Books, Page 104.

[8] Mike Shannon with Rick Hummel (2022), Get Up, Baby! My Seven Decades With the St. Louis Cardinals, Triumph Books (Kindle edition), Location 817.

[9] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, Penguin Books USA, Page 117.

[10] Peter Golenbock (2011), The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, HarperCollins Ebooks, Page 473.

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Caray, a St. Louis native who attended Webster Groves High School, had been the Cardinals’ play-by-play man even longer than Anheuser-Busch had owned the team, dating back to 1945, when Griesedieck Brothers brewery sponsored both Cardinals and Browns broadcasts. Known for his catch phrases – “Holy cow!” and “It could be, it might be, it is – a home run!” – Caray was immensely popular.

The previous year, Caray had suffered a life-threatening accident when he was struck by an automobile on November 4, 1968, near the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel. To assist his longtime friend, Anheuser-Busch president Gussie Busch provided accommodations for Caray in St. Petersburg, where he spent the next 3 ½ months recovering. When the Cardinals resumed broadcasts for the 1969 season, Caray was with the team, delighting the fans on opening day when he discarded his crutches and demonstrated that he could walk under his own power.

However, that season proved to be his final year broadcasting the Cardinals. In August, Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince confirmed that he had been offered a “five-year, six-figure” offer to join the St. Louis broadcast team. The Pittsburgh Press reported that the offer came amidst rumors that Caray’s days in St. Louis were numbered due to a personal conflict with Busch.[1]

Prince said the offer had come in July when the Pirates were in St. Louis for a series.

“KMOX-CBS Inc. has offered me a good job,” Prince said, “but there has never been one mention of my doing the Cardinal games. I wouldn’t play second fiddle to Caray … I wouldn’t quit a job where I’m No. 1 for one where I’d be No. 2 or No. 3.”[2]

After his firing, Caray suggested that the brewery might have used those reports as a trial balloon to gauge fan reaction to his potential replacement.[3]

The rumors that 1969 would mark Caray’s final season in the Cardinals’ booth continued throughout the second half of the campaign. During the Cardinals’ season finale against the Phillies, Caray told his audience that UPI was reporting he had been fired.

“UPI says they know definitely that I’ve been fired,” Caray said. “Why would they know first … why would anybody know first? … That’s what is really grinding inside of me after 25 years.”[4]

Despite the public rumors, the Cardinals didn’t make Caray’s departure official until October 9. On that date, Anheuser-Busch advertising director Donald Hamel informed Caray that after 25 years, his contract would not be renewed for 1970. Instead, Jack Buck would become the new voice of the Cardinals.[5] In a statement to the press, Anheuser-Busch president August A. Busch Jr. said the decision was based on the recommendation of the company’s marketing department.

“We have been very glad to have had Harry Caray as a member of our broadcasting team since 1954, and we can assure our fans that we will do everything possible to make the Cardinal broadcasts of the future both interesting and enjoyable,” he said.[6]

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted George W. Couch of Anheuser-Busch’s advertising department, who said, “We felt Caray would not fit into our 1970 program. I think the announcement speaks for itself.”[7]

Caray, who described himself as “bruised” and “hurt” by the decision, fiercely objected to the brewery’s stance that he had been fired for marketing purposes, noting that Anheuser-Busch beer sales had increased from 200,000 cases per year to 2 million since he had begun promoting the brewery’s beer on broadcasts. In protest, he made sure to have a can of Schlitz beer prominently displayed when he was interviewed on the subject.

“I want to know why I was fired,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of rumors involving personal things.”[8]

The rumors he alluded to accused Caray of an affair with Susan Busch, the wife of Gussie’s son, August Busch III. As William Knoedelseder described in Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s King of Beer:

In 1968, a rumor began making the rounds in Anheuser-Busch social circles that Susie Busch, wife to August, was having an affair with Harry Caray. It was a jaw-dropping, juicy tidbit that practically demanded retelling.

Aside from the age difference (she was 29, he was 51) and the fact that both were married, Caray was the longtime voice of the Cardinals and one of her father-in-law’s best buddies. That he and Susie would be an item seemed weirdly incestuous. The pair could not have been less discreet when they were seen dining together at St. Louis’s only four-star restaurant, Tony’s, just a few blocks from Busch Stadium, visibly under the influence and so physically affectionate that owner Vince Bommarito had to instruct his whispering waitstaff to stop staring at them.

But it was hard not to. The sight of the florid, cartoon-faced sportscaster cavorting with the stunning young wife of August Busch III was not something a working-class St. Louisan ever expected to see, or would likely forget.[9]

Busch III and Susan divorced in 1969. Both Caray and Susan denied the affair.

“For the first time, I am in a position to discuss it openly, for the parties are now divorced,” Caray said that December. “Mrs. August Busch III is, to my knowledge, the finest of ladies, and she also happens to be a true friend of mine. She visited me daily while I was in the hospital, partly in the line of duty as a volunteer nurse and the rest out of unhappiness and loneliness. The young lady, now divorced, was a constant companion for a long time of my wife’s and a dear friend of mine. I hope she is still a good friend of mine, and I have now and have always had nothing but friendly affection and respect for her. If this is having an affair, then our society is becoming sick.”[10]

In a 1995 interview, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jerry Berger asked Susan if she and Caray had been “an item.”

“We were a friendship item, but not a romance item by any means,” she said. “Harry was married to Marion, and Harry and I used to play gin rummy. I could have made a phone call to Harry, easily, because Harry and August and I and Marion used to get together and play cards. But as far as a romance item, no.”[11]

Berger then asked why she believed the rumors had begun.

“I think people do this because we both had a name and we might have been seen out, having dinner, which was probably a situation, yes, I did join Harry for dinner,” Susan said. “August traveled a lot and I joined a lot of friends for dinner, as I still do to this day. And people would see us and I guess decided to go for the romance.”[12]

Caray also faced more mundane rumors that he was about to join Ed Vogel, a former Anheuser-Busch executive who had left the company in 1968, in the distribution of a rival beer in Florida. Caray said he went to Gussie Busch to alleviate any fears the elder Busch may have regarding those stories.

“I said, ‘Gussie, I am not here because of these many stories about me not being back with the Cardinals, but there are two things I want you to know,’” Caray recalled. “‘If you ever believed the truth before in your life, you must believe this because it is the truth.’”

According to Caray’s telling, Busch then said, “I must confess I had heard it and believed it, and I am glad you came out here to tell me.”[13]

Nonetheless, Caray was fired shortly thereafter. Shortly after the announcement, a group calling itself the Harry Caray Fan Club protested outside of Busch Stadium. A petition seeking Caray’s reinstatement also started in Jefferson City.

“Out here in the boondocks, Harry Caray IS the Cardinals to many of us,” read a portion of the petition. “He makes the names in the lineup dance with reality, and the quivering faith or haunting doubt that goes into the outcome of every game, every play, gives new reality and lasting emotion to all of us who love the Cardinals.”[14]

In November, Anheuser-Busch announced that Jim Woods, a native of Missouri who had spent the 11 previous seasons broadcasting Pirates games, would be beside Buck in the broadcast booth.[15] Buck indicated that he and Caray remained on good terms.

“We always were and still are,” he said. “I always wanted to be No. 1 but not at the expense of Harry or anyone else.”[16]

The following month, Oakland Athletics owner Charles O. Finley announced that he had hired Caray to join the A’s broadcast team.

“Any time people in baseball can put color into the game, we should do it,” Finley said. “I’m doing it with Harry Caray, who I consider the finest baseball announcer in the country.”[17]

At the announcement, Caray said he hadn’t spoken to Gussie Busch since he was fired.

“He can’t look me in the eye,” Caray said. “I think the old man’s son had a big hand in letting me go. I was a great friend of his father.”[18]

Caray spent just one season in Oakland before returning to the Midwest with the Chicago White Sox. Caray stayed in the South Side broadcast booth from 1971 through 1981, then was hired by the Chicago Cubs for the 1982 season. Caray remained in the Cubs’ broadcast booth until he passed away in February 1998.

Caray’s son, Skip, followed in his father’s footsteps, broadcasting games for the Atlanta Braves from 1976 until his passing in 2008. Chip Caray, Skip’s son and Harry’s grandson, made the profession a family tradition. Chip was hired to work alongside Harry as a Cubs broadcaster for the 1998 season, but ended up taking his grandfather’s place following Harry’s passing. In 2005, Chip began broadcasting Braves games, and in 2023, he was named the new play-by-play announcer for the Cardinals, the position his grandfather held 54 years earlier.

Enjoy this post? You can also find stories by player or decade, or buy my new book, The Trades That Made The St. Louis Cardinals, available now at Amazon!

[1] “Cards Make Big Offer To Prince,” Pittsburgh Press, August 19, 1969.

[2] “Cards Make Big Offer To Prince,” Pittsburgh Press, August 19, 1969.

[3] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[4] Jerry Atkins, “Harry Fired?” Paducah Sun, October 3, 1969.

[5] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[6] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[7] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[8] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[9] William Knoedelseder (2012), Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s King of Beer, HarperCollins, Pages 106-107.

[10] “Harry Caray tells his side of the story,” Mattoon (Ill.) Journal Gazette, December 9, 1969.

[11] Jerry Berger, “Near Beer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 13, 1995.

[12] Jerry Berger, “Near Beer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 13, 1995.

[13] “Harry Caray tells his side of the story,” Mattoon (Ill.) Journal Gazette, December 9, 1969.

[14] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[15] “Pirates’ Woods To Announce Cards’ Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 6, 1969.

[16] “Caray Hunting Job After Dismissal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10, 1969.

[17] Ed Levitt, “The Ham In Harry,” Oakland Tribune, January 20, 1970.

[18] Ed Levitt, “The Ham In Harry,” Oakland Tribune, January 20, 1970.

The post Why Harry Caray was fired as Cardinals broadcaster first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.